Hapa
Encyclopedia : H : HA : HAP : Hapa
In the Hawaiian language and in Hawaiian Pidgin, a hapa is defined as: Portion, fragment, part, fraction, installment; to be partial, less. Used without qualification in Hawaii, it is often taken to mean "part white", and is short hand for hapa haole. In the Hawaiian language, the word "hapa" can also simply mean half, part, or fragment. It is a loan from the English word half.
The term can be used in conjunction with other Hawaiian racial and ethnic descriptors to specify a particular racial or ethnic mixture. Examples of this include:
- hapa haole (part Caucasian/white)
- hapa kanaka (part Hawaiian)
- hapa popolo (part African/black)
- hapa kepani (part Japanese); the term hapanese is also encountered
- hapa pilipino (part Filipino)
- hapa pake (part Chinese)
- hapa kolea (part Korean)
- hapa kamoa (part Samoan)
- hapa sepania (part Spanish)
- hapa pukiki (part Portuguese)
Hapa-haole can also be used to describe anything hybrid. It is the name of a type of Hawaiian music in which the tune and styling are typically Hawaiian, but the lyrics are in English or mostly in English.
The word "hapa" is now increasingly used to describe a person of partial Asian or Pacific Islander racial/ethnic heritage. It had once been used in a somewhat derogatory manner towards people of half Hawaiian ancestry, but has evolved into a term used to identify a whole new group of people that constitute a growing percentage of the world's population.
See also
External links
- [Asian-Nation: Multiracial Asian Americans]
- [Swirl - A Mixed Community]
- [Cornell Hapa Student Association]
- [Eurasian Association of Singapore]
- [AsianWeek Article Regarding HIF conference]
- [Psychology Today: Mixed Race, Pretty Face? by William Lee Adams]
- [Mixed Asians Resource]
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